MEMBER BLOG

“We are honored to have with us today Dr. Richard Cranium PhD; Professor emeritus of English, Midwest Polytechnic University, Sandusky Ohio. Hello, professor.”

“Greetings, er, tiny.”

“Gee, it’s great to have you here, today to help us better understand haiku.”

“Yes, it is an honor and a privilege to help educate ones less fortunate than oneself.”

“Okay, first off, can you give us a short and sweet definition of a haiku?”

“Yes, I could. However I feel an overview of the history of the written art form known as haiku would be much more beneficial to all concerned.”

“Doc, we don’t have that much time or space.”

“Oh, very well. A haiku is a very short piece of poetry consisting of three lines. The first line having five syllables, the second line having seven syllables, and the third line having five syllables. A haiku does not need to rhyme, most don’t, but can rhyme and still be a haiku. It is a general principle that a seasonal reference is made in the haiku, a word (or words) that make one think of a season. Traditional haiku have a word or more commonly in English a punctuation that serves to break the haiku into two parts, or is used to show a definite stop to an idea. All that being said, modern English haiku are not really constrained by any of these rules other than being short.”

“Ok-ay. Right. Thank you for clearing that up for us, Dr. Dickhead. Er, I, um, mean Cranium, Dr. Richard Cranium, everyone.”